Spokane Chiefs defense smothers Tri-City in 5-1 win; Andrew Cristall adds goal, assist

In the grand scheme of things, the Spokane Chiefs don’t have much to play for as the regular season winds down – they entered play Saturday night all but locked into the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference with four games to play.

But games against the Tri-City Americans always matter a little more between the long-standing Western Hockey League U.S. Division rivals.

And it’s still possible the two will see each other in the first round of the playoffs in a couple of weeks.

Saturday night, the defense set the tone.

Andrew Cristall had a goal and an assist, Dawson Cowan made 16 saves and the Chiefs handled the Americans 5-1 in a WHL game at the Arena .

The Chiefs limited the Americans to 17 shots on goal while generating 45.

“I think we played a good team game,” Chiefs defenseman Nathan Mayes said. “I think in the defensive zone, kept it pretty simple, playing a simple game, just making good outlet passes.”

“I thought we took away time and space when we could,” Chiefs coach Brad Lauer said. “There were some areas where we broke down, but you’re going to have those. I thought for the most part defensively, we played well.”

The Chiefs (44-19-1-1) announced before the game they would host Games 3 and 4 in the first round of the WHL playoffs on April 2 and 3. The Arena is unavailable to host Games 1 and 2 due to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament March 28-31.

The Americans (31-26-6-1) remain seventh in the conference, three points behind Vancouver and Portland. The Chiefs will play the sixth-place team in the first round.

“We did some good things,” Lauer said. “We know (Tri-City) played last night and we wanted to make sure we did the right things. We gave them a little life in the second, but I thought in the third period we did a much better job of getting pucks in behind their (defense) and establishing our forecheck like we want to do.”

Lauer wasn’t pleased after Wednesday’s loss to Everett and was happy with the way his team bounced back.

“Every team we’re playing right now is a playoff contender for us,” Lauer said. “We get Everett again (Sunday). The biggest thing right now for us is we talk about playing playoff hockey – that’s doing the little things, that’s managing the game, making sure you’re not turning pucks over. And playing the right way, doing the right thing.”

“Only three games left, so we’re still super motivated to just keep playing our game,” Mayes said. “We want to keep winning games going into the playoffs.”

After something of a sluggish start from both teams, the Chiefs took first advantage midway through the first period. The Americans couldn’t get a clear and Sam Oremba passed to Assanali Sarkenov in the slot. Sarkenov’s first shot was blocked, but he put the rebound top shelf past goalie Ryan Grout for his 10th goal of the season.

While they were announcing the first goal, the Chiefs won a puck in the neutral zone, which sprung Andrew Cristall and Berkly Catton – the Nos. 1 and 3 scorers in the league – on a 2-on-1. Catton slid the puck to Cristall, who settled and snapped it past Grout for his 46th goal of the season, prompting a timeout by Tri-City.

The Americans picked up a power-play goal by Jackson Smith 4½ minutes into the second period as Sarkenov was off for tripping.

It stayed that way with 16:36 of the third period when the Chiefs tacked on to the lead. Defenseman Brayden Crampton took a pass from Cristall in the high slot, paused for an opening and sent a wrister past Grout for his 10th of the season and a 3-1 lead.

A little more than two minutes later, the Chiefs made it 4-1 when defenseman Nathan Mayes pinched in from the point, skated along the goal line and chipped a backhander past Grout for just his sixth of the season.

“I saw (Chase Harrington) wheeling around the net, so I tried to make myself available,” Mayes said. “I saw a little opportunity to drive to the net and make a little play.”

Mathis Preston added a power-play goal with 59 seconds left, his 22nd of the season, to cap the scoring.